Talk:Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration
pictures Does anyone have a screenshot of the title card for this? —Scott (talk) 07:55, 25 September 2008 (UTC) Opening paragraph I'm confused by the first paragraph: :"Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration was the television title for the special celebrating Sesame Street's 25th anniversary. Released in a slightly different form on video in October 1993, the special was shelved for its broadcast premiere on PBS in 1994, during pledge drive season, and in many markets, aired as part of a marathon block with three show episodes." When did the special originally air? That paragraph seems to imply that it was released first on video in 1993, and didn't air on TV until 1994. I'm also not sure what "shelved" means in that sentence. Was it a video first? -- Danny (talk) 11:35, 10 April 2007 (UTC) :See the discussion at the very bottom. It came out on video first (at least, according to the release date on Amazon, assuming that's accurate), but press reports and such indicate it was intended as a special (using the title it aired as on television), but then went unaired until spring 1994, for pledge drives, thus the use of the phrase "shelved"; it seems to have debuted in slightly different months in different markets, pretty much at the whim of local PBS station managers. It is confusing, though, so feel free to make any changes. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 11:52, 10 April 2007 (UTC) :Sorry, I didn't bother reading the page! Silly rabbit. Anyway, if the video came out first, should the article be named after the video? I think the opening would be more coherent if we said something like: "Sesame Street's Birthday: A Musical Celebration was a special celebrating Sesame's 25th anniversary. The special was originally released on video in 1993. The special aired on PBS in 1994 during pledge drive season, retitled Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration." And so on. That way, it actually tells the story in chronological order. -- Danny (talk) 12:03, 10 April 2007 (UTC) ::The problem is, we're not precisely clear on the chronology. Both video and TV versions are substantially different beyond the title, and we only have an Amazon date as evidence that the video came first (I've checked newspaper listings, severl mention the special as part of the big PBS pledge promotion, absolutely no promos for the video). I wish there was a more neutral way to address it. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 18:02, 10 April 2007 (UTC) :::I'm not sure how such things work on video (as opposed to books), but I checked and my copy has copyright 1993 on both the box and the tape. So while it's not a release date, it certainly was made that year along with the tv special. -- Wendy (talk) 18:17, 10 April 2007 (UTC) ::::Yeah, but videos often carry the year they were made/copyrighted, as opposed to when they were actually released commercially. Unless we want to just note that it was made in 1993 (presumably both TV and video cuts) and forget all the rest. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 18:29, 10 April 2007 (UTC) :::::This is from MuppetZine #7, Winter 1994: "Sesame Street's 25th season is currently airing constantly on every conceivable PBS station, featuring new sets and characters (both human and Muppet). And watch for a 25th birthday special, which will air on PBS stations during March." That was written either in January or February 1994. :::::I don't seem to have written about the video in MuppetZine -- there were a lot of Muppet and Fraggle videos coming out in '93, and I wasn't keeping very close tabs on the Sesame stuff. But I think if the video says 1993 on it, then it's a safe bet to say that it came out in 1993. We don't question that for any other videos. :::::So I think it's reasonable to say that the video came out in 1993, and the special aired in 1994. -- Danny (talk) 18:39, 10 April 2007 (UTC) ::::::Actually, I question it. Sesame Street Home Video Visits the Firehouse was released in Jaunary 1991, but carries a 1990 date. In this case, it's probably accurate, especially given the leap in months (though it still seems odd to release a 25th anniversary video in the 24th year, but they were jumping the gun a bit regardless), but I've found other instances where they're off by a year, so I don't think that should always be the automatic assumption if there's no precise known release date. By the way, the airdate was either late February, early March, mid-March, or even April, according to listings, depending on how stations wanted to roll with it, and whether they aired it as the three-hour block or not Andrew Leal (talk) 18:46, 10 April 2007 (UTC) ::::::::I think the copyright date on a video is acceptable information unless there's other evidence that contradicts it. Both Amazon and the copyright date say 1993. We don't have any evidence that contradicts a '93 release date. -- Danny (talk) 19:31, 10 April 2007 (UTC) ::::::::::What's the soruce for Sesame Street Home Video Visits the Firehouse being from 1991? --Minor muppetz 00:53, 11 April 2007 (UTC) :::::::::::Consumer guides, advertisements, newspaper articles, and other press promotion pinned January 1991 as being the debut for the two Hoem Video Visits titles. So they were produced in 1990, but debuted in stores the following year. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 02:01, 11 April 2007 (UTC) :Could we solve this issue by splitting the article in two? Looking at the list of segments, they were pretty different. Someone must have a copy of the TV broadcast. Guillermo, maybe? —Scott (talk) 00:02, 18 April 2007 (UTC) ::Sure, I think splitting the article is a good idea. How very King Solomon of you. -- Danny (talk) 00:50, 18 April 2007 (UTC) :::I agree, splitting seems like a perfect solution. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 02:52, 22 April 2007 (UTC) ::::So now somebody needs to actually go and do it. :) -- Danny (talk) 18:03, 1 May 2007 (UTC) :::::Okay, done. 16 months later :) —Scott (talk) 05:57, 25 September 2008 (UTC) the same? Someone added two separate lists for the TV and video versions. If these are so different, I'm wondering if they should be two separate articles. Especially considering below. The video came out first and aired on TV an year later. -- Scott (talk) 01:09, 24 July 2006 (UTC) :I feel like if they were two separate articles, the two would essentially be duplicates of each other. -- Danny (talk) 01:32, 24 July 2006 (UTC) ::Yeah, maybe you're right. -- Scott (talk) 01:45, 24 July 2006 (UTC) :::The frame sequences are almost exactly the same, it's only the sketches which have changed (as has happened with other releases, like with Big Bird's Bedtime Story and its DVD version, which don't have seperate pages). Since the TV version aired as a pledge drive special, there was an emphasis on celebrity inserts over the more "classic" sketches in the video release. Incidentally, if anyone has access to the TV version's credits, they list all of the cameos for Monster in the Mirror. Andrew Leal (talk) 01:55, 24 July 2006 (UTC) Which Came First? Does anybody know which version came first, the broadcast version or the video version? I feel under the impression that the video came first, but this article seems to contradict what I think. Does anybody have any official dates for the original video release and original TV broadcast? Of course, it could have been planned to have been shown on both television and video, with different versions edited for both formats. --Minor muppetz 18:55, 6 July 2006 (UTC) :Amazon has an October 20, 1993 release date for the VHS. What's the source for the 1994 airdate? -- Scott (talk) 18:59, 6 July 2006 (UTC) ::If anything, like The Street We Live On, I expect the two were done simultaneously, with appropriate edits as needed for licensing or what have you. Yeah, the special did air in the spring of 1994, but that's because it was pledge drive season. Many stations aired it as part of a marathon, showcasing three episodes and the special. Andrew Leal (talk) 20:44, 18 July 2006 (UTC)